21,500 PILES WERE LAID TO PRODUCE THE STATIONS FOUNDATIONS

The site Floods to a Depth of 7ft

Despite the remedial work, during the severe flooding of the East Coast in 1953, and land to the west of the site flooded to a depth of 7ft as the water lapped over the river bank.

Land to the east of the site was not affected ( Strong Ebb Tides.

There were concerns to about the possibility of re-circulation of cooling water at certain tidal conditions, Ebb tides produce a strong counter current in the stretch of water immediately fronting the power station.

Flow Test.

Flow test were carried out using the Thames Model and the discharge works designed to reject water at a sufficiently high velocity to minimise the re-circulation. Originally planned for a 1,000MW capacity, advances in engineering technology enabled the construction of 300MW units for 3,4 and 5, increasing the station capacity to 1,300MW.

The original specification for the 200MW boilers included provision for burning either oil or coal with the facilities for changingover within a period of hours.

However, this was modified later to provide only coal burning facilities. 21.500 Piles were required.

Because of the limited load bearing properties of the site, an enormous piling exercise was carried out.

A total of 21,500 pre-cast reinforced concrete piles were used.

Every Pile driven into a layer of ballast which exists at a level of about 50ft below the site. Clearing work eventually got under way on November 25, 1957 with the first pile driven almost eight months later on 6th July 1958.

That's when the skyline at West Thurrock started to change.

Picture and story reproduced from the discontinued West Thurrock News.

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